Page:The Progress of Poetry - Madan (1783).djvu/9
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A common ear, perhaps, or vulgar heart,
These lays may please, the labour'd work of Art;
Far other strains delight the polish'd mind,
The ear well-judging, and the taste refin'd.
To blend, in heavenly numbers, strength and fire,
An Addison will ask, a Pope require;
Genius alone can force like theirs bestow,
As stars unconscious of their brightness glow.
These lays may please, the labour'd work of Art;
Far other strains delight the polish'd mind,
The ear well-judging, and the taste refin'd.
To blend, in heavenly numbers, strength and fire,
An Addison will ask, a Pope require;
Genius alone can force like theirs bestow,
As stars unconscious of their brightness glow.
Hail Greece! from whence the spark etherial came,
That wide o'er earth diffus'd its sacred flame:
There the first laurel form'd a deathless shade,
And sprung immortal for thy Homer's head;
There the great Bard the rising wonder wrought,
And plann'd the Iliad in his boundless thought;
By no mean steps to full perfection grew,
But burst, at once, refulgent on the view.
That wide o'er earth diffus'd its sacred flame:
There the first laurel form'd a deathless shade,
And sprung immortal for thy Homer's head;
There the great Bard the rising wonder wrought,
And plann'd the Iliad in his boundless thought;
By no mean steps to full perfection grew,
But burst, at once, refulgent on the view.
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